Counterattack, Part 5
Mesopotamia
Taking advantage of the lull in between enemy assaults, the four of them played shagaa. They didn’t have animal bones like in Gulichi’s village, so instead they used spent bullet cases. Samir had stood up several cases in a line a few feet away, and all four of them crouched on the ground, carrying more cases in their hands. “You first, Billy.”
Billy flicked a case at the line. His flick was too powerful, though, and the case flew over the line. Must have been much stronger when he was younger. Hard for him to cut back, I guess.
“Oh, too bad,” Ruby said, “Let me show you how to hit your target.”
She tried her luck, but her own projectile fell far short, despite flying as fast as Billy’s. Same deal, but less accurate. Samir and Gulichi went next. Having actually played the game before, they managed to hit their targets. Gulichi, though, hit two at the same time.
“Guess I win!” he said.
“Dumb luck,” Ruby said, “You’re not supposed to get two!”
“But I did,” Gulichi said.
“Round 2, som-hi!” Ruby flicked three more bullet cases in quick succession, but none hit. “Come on!”
“You need patience, Ruby, like this.” Billy also tried, but he again hit the far wall. “Zut alors! Let’s go again, right now!”
Samir looked out the window. Below them, Persian engineers were using shovels and a few bulldozers to dig trenches cutting across the western path up the hill, as a way of replacing the walls destroyed in the last attack. At the bottom of each trench, they stuck pieces of rebar and shrapnel straight up. Hopefully, that would slow down the enemy more than they did in the last wave. His eyes wandered up to the sky, and he saw black dots rapidly getting larger. “Incoming aircraft!”
Two Persian truck-mounted surface-to-air missile launchers fired their payloads, which veered into the air and intercepted the approaching Jerusalem jets. Several were destroyed instantly, but others deployed flares and veered away. These remained on course and launched their missiles once they got close enough. An anti-aircraft gun stationed in one of the courtyards opened fire and intercepted those missiles before they hit anything.
“Thank goodness.” Gulichi put down the bullet cases and picked up his gun. “I was still getting ready.”
More jets approached. Once the missile launchers had exhausted their ammunition, the anti-aircraft guns picked up the slack, filling the skies with flak and lead. Still, a handful of enemy aircraft made it through and fired. Three missiles made it past the bullet hail, exploding at various locations around the citadel. Looking back at the battlefield, Samir once again spotted the Crusaders advancing, again in a barely organized horde. Persian artillery pounded away, blasting entire squads to pieces and throwing their remains high into the air, but the rest of the horde pushed on. This time, Samir spotted a few tanks among the enemy, and the Persians’ own tanks rolled out to intercept. The Crusader tanks squared off against their Persian counterparts, each side lobbing shells and machine gunfire against the other. It was then that Samir noticed the two sides’ tanks were of the same model—the iconic Roman M1 Augustin, in service since World War III. The only things telling them apart was the Jerusalem cross on all of the Crusader tanks and the lion and sun on all of the Persian ones. The Persian M1s constantly belched out thick plumes of smoke as they pivoted for better firing angles and cover against the Crusader M1s, which fired indiscriminately against all targets. For every Persian tank they destroyed, the Persians took out two Crusader ones. Unfortunately, the Crusaders could afford to replace their losses, while the Persians could not.
“Samir!” Billy said. “Samir! The markers!”
Samir looked down and saw that while the tanks had drawn their fire, the infantry had reached the white markers again. “They’re in range! Fire!”
They had no shortage of targets, so they simply fired everything they had at the enemy horde, just as Ruby wanted. To conserve ammo, Samir kept using his scope to deliver headshots in quick bursts, spending little time to confirm his kills before moving on to the next target.
The Persian tanks were now in full retreat, despite losing fewer tanks than the Crusaders. The stench of gasoline assaulted Samir’s nose, even though he was nowhere near the tanks. Their gas engines revving and spewing out more clouds of thick fumes, the tanks rolled backwards, taking them over the trenches and up the hill. The Crusader tanks fanned out and took up positions around the citadel. The Persians rained down rockets, grenades, and mortars, destroying at least five, but the enemy returned fire, demolishing more of the citadel’s walls. An entire squad of Persians screamed as they were crushed to death by falling rubble. As the Persian defenses faltered, the Crusaders advanced to the hill. The first trench temporarily halted their march in its tracks when they realized it was full of rebar and sharp shrapnel. But with Persian machine guns tearing through their ranks, they were forced to act. As Samir watched, dozens of Crusaders threw themselves into the trench, impaling themselves on the improvised spikes. Their blood spurted out and began soaking into the dirt at the bottom of the trench. No sooner did their bodies stop twitching than another few dozen Crusaders jumped on top of them and likewise were impaled, followed by another wave, and another, until Crusader bodies had completely filled in the trench and covered the spikes, allowing the rest to cross. Even so, more still died when some of the bodies below gave way, dropping those crossing above onto the uncovered spikes.
“Sacre…dieu…” Billy muttered. “H-how…”
“Inhumanitat…” Ruby said.
I don’t know what would be worse, if their Panopticons made them do it, or if they genuinely did it on their own. Samir resisted the urge to puke. “The enemy is advancing! Lay down interception fire!”
The Liberation Legion and its comrades concentrated their fire on the trench-covered hillside. The Artesh rained down its mortars as close as possible to its own lines, hoping to force back the Crusaders. But they pushed through. They repeated the same bloody tactic with the second trench, and then the third, and so on. However, each trench did slow down their advance, allowing the machine guns and mortars to take out more and more of them. By the time they reached, the last trench, their numbers had thinned significantly. Samir estimated almost half had been sacrificed to fill in the trenches or shot while doing so. He reloaded and continued shooting at those closest to his position. He noted he was on his eighth clip now. He had only one more left.
“Fall back!” he said.
They retreated deeper into the citadel.
“Leyla, we need suggestions,” Gulichi said into his earpiece.
There was no response. Huh, it’s not like Leyla to not respond. She always takes Gulichi’s calls.
“Anybody got extra ammo?” Samir asked. “I’m almost out.”
“On my last clip,” Ruby said.
“Last clip,” Billy said.
“Well, frak,” Samir said.
“Still got most of my last clip, but I doubt that’ll last,” Gulichi said, “Now what?”
“Fall back to the ground floor,” Samir said, “They need our help at the entrance.”
“But we barely have any ammo left!” Ruby said.
“Well, they might have some.”
“Better than anything,” Billy said, “Let’s go.”
They descended to the ground floor, where several Persian squads had set up sandbags, machine gun nests, and barbed wire behind and in front of the main doorway. Behind them, a flagpole stood in the middle of a courtyard, still flying a tattered Persian flag. In front, he heard the boots of the Crusaders stomping against brick and dirt as they marched uphill. All of their remaining firepower had been concentrated on defending this chokepoint into and out of the citadel. Samir found a sandbag wall without a squad and crouched behind it with the others. He first looked for the commanding officer, but he saw none until he looked at the ground and saw a colonel lying there, a giant hole in his chest.
“So…anybody see any extra ammo?” Gulichi said.
Samir looked around for any boxes of ammo, but the only ones he saw were empty. “Frak. They have it just as bad as us.”
“Oh, great, what the hell do we do now?” Ruby said.
Samir looked out the doorway at the approaching Crusaders. Their heads appeared first as they reached the top of the hill, followed by their black-clad bodies and the guns in their hands.
“Why aren’t they shooting?” Billy said.
At that moment, Samir noticed the bayonets fixed to their rifles. And then he realized that the rest of the Artesh weren’t the only ones running out of ammo. That would buy them at least a little more time. He stood up, and nobody shot him, at least for a few seconds. That proved his point, even after one of them shot at him. It didn’t change much for his observation.
“Everyone!” he said, taking command. “We can still hold the line! They’re running low on ammo, just like us! Fix bayonets and prepare for close quarters combat!”
---
Far from the front lines, Leyla sat at her desk, poring over data coming in from the citadel. The computer screens around her were supposed to show live video from the battlefield, but most of the cameras there had been destroyed, so most of the screens were taken up by static. Her radio connection with the Liberation Legion had long since been jammed, and now the remaining cameras were her only way she could see into the citadel. Please hold out a little longer… Other screens showed a map of the region, updating troop positions as fast as they were figured out. A small cluster of green dots were concentrated in the citadel, while an overwhelming sea of red covered the entire rest of the map. Some dots on both sides flickered out every now and then. Leyla knew exactly what that meant. To reduce their lives to mere dots on a map…it’s haunting seeing them go dark like that. She hoped the reinforcements would arrive soon.
Speaking of reinforcements… She decided to check on those reinforcements’ status. Leyla zoomed the map out, trying to see if there were any Artesh formations on the way. To her surprise, there were none, only a few Yavdian divisions in the north. Weird. Maybe they just got delayed? She looked over the border into western Persia. Still nothing. Where are they?
She waved over her commander. “Sir, where are the reinforcements for the citadel?”
The commander looked at the map—the empty map of western Persia—and then back at her, with a confused look on his face. “Haven’t you heard?”
“Heard what?”
“Our new orders from Isfahan.” The commander handed her a sheet of paper, labeled “Operation Slaying of Zahhak.” “Here, familiarize yourself with this.”
Leyla read the new orders, and her eyes widened. No, it can’t be! I…I have to warn them!
She put down her headset and left the room. Five seconds later, the headset crackled with static. “Leyla, we need suggestions.”
Isfahan
Alexandra wasn’t as good of a driver as her mother was, but she did her best. Her foot remained glued to the pedal, which was pushed down almost all the way. The analog dashboard read she was going at dangerous speeds for a city street, but she ignored that. Her steering wheel jerked from side to side to avoid roadblocks and abandoned cars in her way, and occasionally she spun hard to the side to drift onto a cross street. It was nothing like in the movies. Every time she pulled a sharp turn, she feared the Impala flipping over, despite having a low center of mass. The Impala’s back bumper narrowly grazed a mailbox, letting out a loud thunk and a brief scraping noise. In normal situations—at least before—she would have immediately pulled over and assessed the damage. Her mother would most certainly ground her when she got home, even though she was out of college. But today she didn’t even slow down, because she expected that to be the last of her worries.
Angelica picked up a walkie-talkie. “Tani! They’re onto us! Get ready!”
“Get me a clear shot and I’ll take it!” Tania responded.
Hearing Tania’s reply, Alexandra swerved to the left, narrowing clearing the frame of a disabled Artesh truck. She looked behind and saw Josh’s squad still following. They had closed to within five car lengths.
“Alex, status on the reactor?” Alexandra asked.
“Reactor output still within acceptable parameters,” Alex said, “We’re at about 80% capacity.”
“How long will that last at the current rate?”
“Maybe…ten minutes?”
“Angelica, I’m going to need you to start shooting.”
Angelica turned around and wrapped her arms around the headrest, using it to steady her aim. “On it! Diane! Ma mère! Les Alençonnais! X-Division! This is for all of you!” She fired.
---
Angelica’s bullet hit Colmar’s front wheel, destabilizing it and throwing him to the ground, where he tumbled over his machine several times before Alder slammed into him. Their vital signs and metadata disappeared from Josh’s Panopticon. Frak, who’s shooting at us? Did Humboldt finally man up? His Panopticon zoomed in on the Impala, and its facial recognition software identified the woman in the back who held the gun. Angelica Haus…I should have known. Traitors working with traitors. At least they’re all in the same place now. He aimed his turret at Angelica. How convenient.
---
Before Josh could fire, Alexandra turned left at the Taleghani Street intersection. Josh’s bullets zipped through the air where Angelica was just seconds earlier. She sighed with relief.
“We need to do something about that turret!” she said.
“I am doing something about it,” Alexandra said, “Switching to Contingency Plan 7!”
Angelica looked out the window and saw a sign pass by.
“Ali Qapu Palace ahead - 600 meters”
---
On the rooftop of Ali Qapu Palace, Tania’s eyes followed a tablet showing the real-time location of the Impala as it sped through the streets of downtown. As the car turned onto Taleghani Street and headed straight for the palace, Tania repositioned herself on the rooftop accordingly. She laid on her stomach, rested the butt of her rifle under her shoulder, and put the scope to her eye. Looking through the scope, she could easily see several blocks down Taleghani Street, and soon the Impala and its pursuers came into view. Tania lined up the sights with one of the men in the back, then she adjusted it downward to accommodate for the man’s forward movement. When she was done calculating, she pulled the trigger.
---
Volkard’s vitals suddenly disappeared from Josh’s Panopticon, followed by the entire UI glitching out. He lightly tapped the side of his head and ran a diagnostic check. After a few seconds, his UI returned to normal, but Volkard’s vitals did not return. He looked back and saw Volkard’s body lying on the street next to a mangled motorcycle. Much of his head was gone.
“Josh!” Leo said out loud. “Something’s wrong with the P’s!”
Josh also found he couldn’t relay his orders via Panopticon. He noticed a beeping in the lower corner of his UI. Moving his attention there, he saw something he didn’t want to see:
“Turret disabled - firmware repair in progress”
“Damn sniper!” he said. “They mean to jam us! Deploy your drones, Leo!”
“On it!” Leo’s three drones veered away and flew off towards the palace, ignoring the Impala altogether.
---
Tania saw the three drones approaching. She reloaded her rifle and fired once. She pulled back and ejected the spent shell, then reloaded and fired again. She repeated the motions a third time. When she blinked, she next saw all three drones plummeting to the ground.
---
Gustav blinked as his Panopticon’s UI glitched and then completely vanished, replaced with a single error message in the lower right corner. “All systems down. Repairs in—” Then the error message disappeared as well, leaving his vision completely unaltered and natural. After years of using the Panopticon’s conveniences, natural vision looked barren and empty.
What…what’s going on? For the last few months, it had felt like he was constantly in a haze, and his mind was fogged up. As he looked back on his memories, he realized he couldn’t recall any details. All he could see were shapes. Voices were muffled and distant. Plans and missions he could recall, but not much about what he did during them. And his senses...they were so sharp now. He had almost forgotten he could smell things. But why am I only just realizing that now?
He looked down and saw a bullet had lodged itself in the front light of his military motorcycle. A motorcycle…huh. When did I learn to drive a motorcycle? And get this good at it?
“Frak!” Leo said. “They took out my drones!”
Gustav looked around, trying to figure out where he was. From the Arabic script on the signs, and their Latin romanizations printed below, it seemed he was in Persia. He next looked at his squad, but he only saw Josh and Leo. Where are Colmar, Volkard, and Alder?
“Fine!” Josh said. “If they’re willing to play dirty, so will I!”
He flipped a switch on his motorcycle. One of the “exhaust pipes” detached from the engine, flipped around, and fired a rocket at the Impala.
Oh, we’re chasing an Impala? Wait, an Impala?! Does that mean…
---
“WHEN DID THEY GET ROCKETS?!” Angelica screamed.
Alexandra’s eyes widened when she saw the approaching rocket in the rearview mirror. She veered left onto Tayeb Street, and it was only after the fact that she realized they had left the safety of Tania’s line of sight. Her drifting wasn’t fast enough, and the rocket exploded just behind the rear bumper, jolting the entire car and shearing metal off the rear. Alexandra struggled to retain control, but the back left wheel had deflated and become slightly warped. Her speed slowed, and Argus closed in.
Frak…we were careless. Now they’ll catch up to us…and we don’t have Tania to even the score. Alexandra reached under the wheel for the red switch she had installed there. Alex saw what she was doing and grabbed her arm. “No. Only as a last resort.”
“This is the last resort! Plan 12!”
Alex looked out his window and pointed at a nearby shopping mall. “We can hide there. We set it up according to Plan 7B.”
“If I may have some input regarding getting blown up, can you at least do it when I’m not in the car?” Angelica said.
Alexandra glanced at Alex, taking in the alarmed look on his face. Then she pulled away from the switch. She pulled the car over to the curb. “Angelica, I need some cover fire.”
“On it!” Angelica fired two more bullets at Argus. One bullet hit Leo’s motorcycle, forcing him to stop and dismount. The other went over Josh’s head. She shot again, and this time her bullet pinged off Josh’s exosuit. “What the hell kind of armor is he wearing? He didn’t have that last time!” One more shot, and she hit what was presumably the rocket storage compartment, because the motorcycle exploded, sending Josh faceplanting into the pavement. The flaming remains of the motorcycle scattered in all directions. Angelica pumped her fists. “YEAH! That’s how it’s done!”
She then saw Alex’s somber face and remembered who the motorcycle had previously belonged to. “Oh, I’m sorry.”
“No.” Alex steeled himself. “It’s fine. If anything, Mom’s bike will never be abused again.”
“And at least we got him!” Angelica said.
Alex opened his mouth, but he shut it when Josh stirred. “HUMBOLDT!”
“Well, merde,” Angelica said, “The frak’s this guy on?!”
“I don’t plan on sticking around and finding out.” Alexandra spotted the mall entrance. “Over there. Let’s go!” She hastily got out of the car. The rest followed after her, and they all made a break for the door. Alex got there first and pulled on the handle, only to find it was locked.
“You did set up 7B correctly, right?” Alexandra asked.
Alex nodded. “The owners must have come back and locked the place. To look out for looters.”
“Oh, please, this is child’s play.” Angelica shot the glass once to shatter it, then she reached through the hole and unlocked the door from the inside. “No time to argue!”
“How many bullets do you have left?” Alexandra said.
“I got a second clip in my pocket, and the stash we set up inside.”
She looked back and saw Josh rounding the corner, followed by Leo and Gustav. “Gotta go!”
They ducked inside the mall just as Leo fired his gun, shattering more glass but missing the three of them. They rounded a corner to get off the main path and continued running for a while. Once they no longer heard the clanking of Josh’s power armor against the floor tiles, they slowed and exhaled. Alexandra leaned against a wall to catch her breath.
“Damn…” she panted. “I haven’t run that fast since high school gym class.”
“Okay, that escalated way too quickly,” Alex said, “Moving to the next phase of the plan.”
“Without Tani’s sniping, we’re frakked,” Angelica said, “We need to get in a position to trigger 7B1A.”
7B1A: Get to the food court, where the windows will give Tania a clear shot.
“So we have to make it to the…other end of the mall without getting murdered,” Alex said.
“Yes.”
“Frak.”
“Sorry,” Alexandra said, “I miscalculated.”
“Hey, don’t blame yourself,” Angelica said, “Nobody could’ve predicted the guy would show up with freaking powered armor and rocket launchers mounted on a motorcycle.”
“It was Mom’s motorcycle,” Alex said, “I should’ve seen that one coming. I knew he had it. I saw him with it, when we were doing the remote control. I should’ve planned around it.”
“I’ll repeat the same thing I told Alexandra,” Angelica said, “It happened. We’re here now. Let’s get over it and stick to the plan.”
She walked over to a wall where a map of the mall had been put. “Okay, if this map is accurate…damn, I can’t read like half the Persian on here, but surely this map is oriented with north facing up, right?”
“They should,” Alexandra said, “Never seen a mall map where north isn’t at the top.”
“Okay, there’s the food court,” Angelica said, “And there’s the route.”
“Shouldn’t we have memorized that route to begin with, if not practiced?”
“Hey, we only had a week, and we’ve got at least 15 plans, each with at least 3 stages! Anyways, the fastest route is through here.” Angelica pointed at the middle walkway, where all of the most popular shops were located.
“They’d expect us to go there, though,” Alexandra said, “Do we need to go to 7B2?”
“Not necessarily. They don’t know why we’re going that way. So they can’t plan around it. As far as I know, Josh is here to kill Alex.”
“I have an idea,” Alex said.
Angelica’s face paled. “Frak, you too?”
“Plan 7B3,” Alex said, “I split off and lure Josh away, while the rest of you get to the food court without them following. Then I meet you there and bring Josh to get sniped, as per what happens in 7B1A.”
“Zut alors, self-sacrifice runs in the family, doesn’t it?”
Guess I get that from both Mom and Dad. “We don’t have much time. Are we going to do 7B3 or not?”
“Alex, you stopped me from blowing the reactor, but you’re effectively doing the same thing here,” Alexandra said, “I can’t let you do this.”
“It’s not like the reactor, Alexandra,” Alex said, “I don’t die instantly, and I’m not taking you all with me. I can still make it.”
“It’s still very dangerous!”
“This morning’s been full of danger. I can take it.”
“This is Josh we’re talking about! And he has all those crazy weapons!”
“Then I’ll just have to not fight him,” Alex said, “I can’t fight him anyways, so that just leaves running. I can still run.”
They faced off in silence for another few seconds.
“You know, there’s nothing you can say to convince me otherwise,” Alex said, “I’ve made up my mind. My gut’s telling me it’s time to face Josh one last time and put an end to this.”
“And my gut is telling me you’ll die if you face him alone!” Alexandra said. “What about you, Angelica? What do you think about this?”
Angelica said nothing.
“…You agree with him.” Alexandra slowly realized she was in the minority. “You agree with him?!”
“If we all take that route right now as in 7B1, they’ll slaughter us,” Angelica said, “In 7B3, Alex can take the pressure off us. We can reach the objective safely, then Alex brings them into Tani’s range for 7B1A.”
“You can’t be serious! This is my cousin we’re talking about!”
“He may be your cousin, but he’s made up his mind.” Angelica shook her head. “And we’re wasting time. Either you let him go now, or we all argue here until Josh finds and kills us. One possible death versus three guaranteed deaths. Your choice.”
Alexandra tried opening her mouth, but she couldn’t respond. Finally, she relented. “Okay, fine, Alex. But promise me you’ll make it back to us. Alive.”
Alex nodded. “I will.”
---
As Gustav approached the door to the mall with Leo and Gustav, his mind raced with thoughts. He could hear Josh issuing orders to the two of them, but he tuned them out. Earlier, he remembered simply muting Theodor using the Panopticon, but when he went to use that feature, it didn’t work. His next thought was that whenever his Panopticon malfunctioned in the last five months, it was always repaired using an auto-repair program. But the interface showed no signs of being repaired. It wasn’t like what he previously remembered. Remembered. It seemed something had happened to permanently disable his entire Panopticon, taking away all of its features for good. He remembered training for such contingencies, but the training always assumed the Panopticon would be auto-repaired or the user would seek out a Tesla Dynamic technician after the battle. Remembered. There was nothing in the training preparing him for this. He remembered nothing that could help him. Remembered…remembered…
Everything came rushing back to him. Everything the Panopticon had altered or suppressed now played back in his mind with full force. He heard the loud bangs of his gunshots, the sickening squelch and crunch of his bullets tearing through the flesh and bones of his enemies. He heard the pleas for mercy, the cries for help, the crying in general. Hands reaching up and out in complete surrender, holding no weapons. Josh bashing in a helpless boy’s head against a concrete wall, after slitting his mother’s throat.
“Be a man! Good soldiers follow orders!” Gustav clutched his head, feeling a dull pain behind his eyes. He struggled to catch up with everything he was being hit with. His footsteps slowed, and Josh immediately noticed. “Uncle?”
Gustav looked at Josh, but all he could see was his nephew bashing that boy into the wall over and over again. “Yes?”
“You alright?”
Gustav nodded. “Yes, I’m fine.” I can’t show weakness. Not to him.
“You better be.” Josh continued walking. “I don’t appreciate slackers and dead weight.”
Gustav privately scoffed. Josh was saying this to his own uncle. Wait, but he had done that for the last five months. Wait again, the last five months? It suddenly hit him what happened five months ago. That operation in Russia, with the malfunctioning Panopticons that opened his eyes to the implants’ true purpose. Gustav attempting to break free, only for Theodor to take full control of his Panopticon to torture him, then reset his memories—oh. OH. That was why he was in such a haze for the last five months. Because he had learned the truth, he was silenced and turned into a mindless drone. But now he was freed again. He was finally himself again.
I can’t let Josh or Leo figure it out. If they do, they’ll send me back to get “maintenance”…or worse. Got to at least pretend I’m still under the P’s control. Then I find a way to get out of here. I’m not going back to Jerusalem, not after what I’ve seen. I signed up to defend my country, but it used me like this. I can’t take it anymore.
He looked back and saw the abandoned Impala by the curb. As a recovery team hot-wired the car to get it running, his eyes fell on its strange engine, which hummed gently and radiated blue light. He had never seen an engine like that before. Wonder what that thing runs on—no, focus. If that’s the Impala I remember…then that’s Hansen’s car. And if that’s Hansen’s car…then our target is… He realized who they were going after. Alexandra Hansen, that obscure physicist from a few years ago? Angie’s daughter. I haven’t seen Angie much since we left Nantes, but am I really about to hunt down her daughter? For what reason? He next recalled the name Josh mentioned. Alex Humboldt. Wasn’t that Josh’s old bully from twenty years ago? Why would Josh divert our entire squad just to hunt down one civilian? It made absolutely no sense.
I have to stop him. I know I’ve killed innocents for a long time, even if I don’t remember it. I’ll have to answer for that. But I can at least stop myself from getting worse. I can at least save those kids.
---
Five minutes later, Alex was alone. He leaned against a wall, timing his breaths to slow down his racing heart. The anticipation was killing him more than the actual Josh. He couldn’t believe he was doing this, even though it was his idea. It sounded good in his mind, but when it came time to actually do it, his palms were like rainclouds. His mind raced with scenarios, 95% of them about increasingly elaborate ways to die and 5% about various things involving Thea.
Calm down, Alex. You made a promise to Alexandra. Just stick to the plan. You’re gonna be fine. If it helps, try imagining everyone’s still with you.
He first imagined Thea to his left, her hand intertwined with his. His face crept up into a smile, and his heart rate steadied. He looked to his right and saw his parents there, smiling proudly. Anders nodded with that stoic determined look he remembered. Diana’s face remained warm and kind, while her eyes remained analytical and piercing. He could never pull off a lie once his mother brought those eyes to bear on him. Then there was Manfred, looking just as he did in middle school. He was always so stubborn, but when push came to shove, he always had Alex’s back, at least in those years. Behind Manfred, he saw Oskar, his expression unconditionally forgiving and understanding.
“As long as you all are with me, I know I won’t lose my way.” Alex finally calmed down and regained his resolve.
It was just in time, because he heard a loud clank echo up the hall. Then came another one, and another. The clanking gradually grew louder as it approached. Alex refused to let his fear get the best of him. He steadied his breathing and relaxed his fists. Then he looked down the hall.
There he was, his old bully. Even though most of his body had been covered in armor plates and wires, Alex couldn’t forget Josh’s face. Despite being much older now, his face still looked like the same one that once tormented him in middle school. The same one that got Oskar fired. The same one that killed Oskar. The same one that killed his parents and Aunt Angie and Olga and the others. Here he was, finally in front of him again, for the first time in years.
Josh stopped when he saw Alex, and his face twisted into a snarl. “Alex Humboldt.” His mouth spat out those words as if they were poison. “You’re finally here.”
“Yes, I am.” Alex’s voice remained calm and collected. “I was thinking the same about you.”
“You know how long I’ve waited for this moment?”
Act casual. Don’t let him know you’re scared. Alex shrugged. “No, and I don’t care. Why don’t we just get right to it?”
“I’ve gotten some upgrades since the last we met.” Josh held up one of his arms, revealing a familiar gauntlet strapped to his wrist. “I’ve so looked forward to testing them out against you.”
“Yeah, yeah, yeah.” Alex rolled his eyes. Good, good. Keep your mind off the fear. “So can we just, you know, get to the testing?”
“Are you mocking me?!” Josh’s voice grew angrier. “Is this how you treat me?! Jerusalem’s strongest soldier?”
“Yes.” Alex didn’t hesitate to respond. Let him make the first move. “Yes I do, Jerusalem’s strongest soldier.”
“INSOLENCE!” Josh shouted. He tried aiming his turret, but it refused to move. He instead brandished his right gauntlet. “YOU WILL PAY FOR THAT!”
“Oh, good, we’re finally getting to the good part.” Stay in control.
“You sound just like your father! All these stupid quips and one-liners. Did him no good when I hung him in the end!”
“Oh, so that’s what happened to Dad.” Internally, his heart had dropped and his eyes started to water, but he resisted. To show weakness was to instantly die. Be strong. For Mom and Dad and Thea and Oskar and the others. “Thank you for telling me. It’ll make it easier to get closure now. And thanks for the compliment too. It’s nice to know I got at least something from my dad.”
That last sentence ticked Josh off even more, and he lunged at Alex. “DIE, HUMBOLDT! DIE!”
Perfect. “Alright, that’s what I was looking for, time to go!” Alex burst into a sprint just as Josh fired the steel cable of Olga’s former gauntlet into the wall where he just was. The cable embedded itself deeply into the polished rock, trapping Josh. As he struggled to pull himself free, Alex disappeared around a corner.
“COME BACK HERE!” he heard Josh scream. “I’M NOT DONE YET! I WILL HAVE MY REVENGE!”
As Alex continued running, he couldn’t help but smirk. Worked like a charm. He really hasn’t changed at all. Just as I said, stick to the plan.
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The M1’s name comes from Augustin Komnenos, but I haven't been able to mention that yet. It was originally named after Alexios, but I decided to give Augustin a shout-out.
In case you forgot, Anne’s bike had that rocket launcher all the way back in HOI3, and Gustav Johansen was
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